Charu Two
by Fedic
Summary: The confrentation with the demon Char-u.


**Char-u Two**

**[1]**

Inuyasha followed the trail of dust Kouga kicked up in front of him with his arm across his face. Le was a step behind him to his right. From somewhere up ahead he could smell smoke... and human blood, a lot of it. _It will be just my fucking luck that Char-u is up there ready for a rematch Better us then Kagome though. _He pushed himself to go faster. Maybe the demon hadn't slaughtered _everyone_ in the village yet. The smoke of the burning village darkened the mid day sky.

They pulled themselves to a halt at the edge of the burning village. Bodies littered the ground. A few of them were still whole, but most of the villagers had been torn to pieces. The ground ran red with blood. Crimson splattered the homes that weren't burning. A man had been struck down fleeing his burning hut. His legs cooked in the fire. Inuyasha's stomach clenched at the stench. At the center of this madness the demon Char-u sat on his haunches. He was presently devouring the remains of a child no more then three years old by the size of him. Inuyasha's blood boiled with rage and he clenched a tight fist. "Bastard," he spat hatefully.

Le was frozen in terror. The smell of blood overpowered the smell of smoke. To her right she could see a woman's arm still protectively wrapped around her baby though both of them had been crushed to death. They lie in a pool of blood and Le suddenly realized that 'mom' was missing her head. For a moment she felt her heart stop in her chest. Le lifted her eyes up to the demon that had nearly killed her lover just days before. A murderous rage welled up in her throat. "Oh yer gonna die now fucker," she growled.

The smell of this place sickened Kouga. It smelled like death here. His instincts told him to get the hell gone, but he stood his ground. "This the demon you were worryin about, dog shit?" Kouga gritted his teeth.

"You guys just stay back," Inuyasha said, stepping forward. His hand went to Tetsusaiga's hilt.

"Like hell," Le came back. She stepped up to Inuyasha.

Kouga didn't like the feel of this. Not at all. _They're gonna get us killed!_ Kouga scowled and walked up to join the two. As they walked toward the demon before them Kouga said, "You guys have fought this thing before right? So how we gonna kill it _this_ time?"

"Just leave it to me," Inuyasha snarled.

Char-u finished up the remains of the toddler and looked down on the three approaching him. "Like lambs to the slaughter! Ye are fools to come to me!" Char-u bellowed. He threw his head back and laughed.

"Yeah, well we'll just see whose getting slaughtered around here." Inuyasha glowered drawing Tetsusaiga. He screamed to the demon, "I'm here to kill you, you bastard!" And Inuyasha charged.

[2]

Inuyasha was fast, but Char-u had an eerie speed as well. He dodged Inuyasha's attack and turned quickly reaching down for Kouga and Le.

"Scatter!" Kouga screamed, but it was unnecessary. Le was already running, flanking Char-u to the right. Kouga moved up and to the left trying to get behind the demon.

Le realized her course would put her right in front of the demon. _But that's what I want. I want you lookin in my eyes when I cap your ass bitch! _ She started to focus her spirit energy, visualizing her weapon in her mind. She stopped perhaps a bit too close to Char-u and her spirit weapon appeared in her hand. "Spirit Chakram!" she roared, flinging the chakram of her spirit energy at Char-u's head. As the hollow discus of red light flew it seemed to grow. It separated into two spinning wheels that grew points. Char-u threw an arm up in front of his face to guard himself. One of the spinning circles tore a furrow into the muscle of Char-u's great forearm. The other did a little more then graze his head. It peeled back a slice of his scalp above the middle of his forehead. The scaly flap flew off exposing something deep red beneath. Char-u yowled with pain and rage. He brought a grasping hand down toward Le.

Before she had been able to duck it of her own accord, Kouga was there. He scooped her up and ran with her in his arms. "What are you _crazy_ just standin there? You wanna get killed or something?"

Behind them Inuyasha leapt above Char-u with his sword pointed down. Char-u, now furious, swatted Inuyasha out of the air with the back of his hand. The hanyou smashed into one of the huts that still stood and it crashed down on top of him. "Inuyasha!" Le cried alarmed, looking over Kouga's shoulder.

Kouga stopped a safe distance away and set the woman down. As soon as she was on her feet he turned and sped back the way they had come, preparing to charge Char u himself. He jumped high and planted a heel out to come down onto Char-u's bloody head, but Char-u reacted before Kouga's sharp instincts could warn him. Char-u swung his powerful arm in an arc above him flinging drops of blood into the air. His talons slashed through Kouga's left arm and his thighs. He was knocked from the sky. He landed in a heap of agony, blood rushing out of his deep wounds.

"I'll kill you now, you filthy beast and then I'll eat that troublesome bitch over there!" Char-u condemned as his crushing hand came down on top of Kouga. The wolf demon heard Le scream, but it was a far away sound. Like she was calling to him from a dream. Char-u's talons pierced his shoulder, his chest, his abdomen. The world wavered in darkness as Kouga felt the warmth of his spilled blood flow out his back.

"Spirit Chakram!" Le fired another round. She was further away this time and it gave her the advantage. The spinning disks were much bigger this time. Char-u had to release Kouga and run to dodge both. _Oh God! Is Kouga dead?! _Le's heart thumped hard in her chest as she watched her spirit energy fly across the ruined village. _Jesus Christ! Get the fuck up Inuyasha!_

Char-u was quick enough to evade the first wheel, but these were bigger and the second hit him hard. A deep slash opened in his retreating back and he roared in pain and fury. The wave of energy dissipated and he turned his murderous eyes to the woman that had injured him _twice_ in one day. In his savage state he could see nothing but her. Her hand outstretched before her was glowing red, however; Char-u intended to kill the bitch before she could get off another attack. He charged blindly at her wailing a ferocious cry.

Inuyasha struggled his way out of the wreckage and got to his feet dazed and pissed off. He saw Char-u's bloody backside, then the demon broke into a run. He focused on the demon and charged forward again.

Kouga was vaguely aware that Char-u was going to kill the woman that flung her energy like a disk. _Gotta help her. _He fought of the darkness and forced himself up. He ran at the demon not even aware that Inuyasha was also charging from somewhere behind him. Kouga jumped directly up in front of Char-u's face and blasted him with a punch that took all of the energy he had left. Char-u stumbled, flailing arm knocking Kouga away. Blood sprayed from his nose and a gash opened above his eye. Kouga landed on his feet but was driven to his knees by the pain in face. Char-u had blasted him good.

Inuyasha took advantage of the situation and bounded for Char-u. "Eat this you bastard!" Inuyasha pounced holding Tetsusaiga out in front of him. The blade came down on Char-u's shoulder and cleanly sliced his arm off. Char-u howled.

"Spirit Chakram!" Le screamed with a fierce hate. "Die you motherfucker! Die!"

Inuyasha jumped clear as the red spirit chackrums careened across the killing zone. This time her aim was true. One of the twirling wheels connected with Char-u's throat where it seemed to buzz there sending jets of his blood in all directions. Char-u resisted the attack and before he could lose his head the energy dissipated. But it was too late for him anyway.

"Tetsusaiga!" Inuyasha's voice boomed into the clearing. Blades of destruction raced away from his sword.

Char-u was caught in the light of the attack for a moment. His lips pulled back revealing his killers teeth. His serpentine tongue lashed out of his head as he screamed in his death throws. "I'll kill you all!" he raved, and then fell lifelessly to the ground. He landed on his back, eyes bulging from their sockets, tendrils of smoke rising off of him like some unimaginable stink. Inuyasha covered his face with his arm, eyeing the demon cautiously.

"Inuyasha!" Le was running to him. "Is he dead?"

Inuyasha watched him until Le came to his side. "Sure looks dead to me. Are you hurt?"

Her eyes were wide. "No, but Kouga..." She turned and looked to where the wolf demon sat on his knees in a pool of his own blood.

Inuyasha went quickly to his side with Le at his heels. _Oh shit. Just look at those wounds. _"Kouga! You alright?"

Le fell to her knees beside Kouga, her face a mask of terror. "Oh god! Kouga! You're _bleeding!_" her voice was nearly a shriek. She took the hem of her shirt in her hand and proceeded to rip off a strip to make a bandage. "Help me Inuyasha, godamn you!"

"Don't worry about it Le," Kouga said with a slur. He was close to passing out now. "I'm done for." With that he fell forward on his face into the blood stained earth. Le screamed, but it was faint in his ears. He slipped into unconsciousness.

[3]

Inuyasha had removed his shirt and given it to Le to rip into strips to bandage Kouga. _I don't think those little bandages are going to help much now, _he thought sourly, putting his kimono back on. He had helped her lay Kouga out and Inuyasha had discarded Kouga's ruined armor. The hole in Kouga's chest concerned him most. It had missed the wolf demons heart _but he's got a punctured lung. He'll drown in his own blood. _ He stared down at Kouga taking note of the blood leaking from his bottom lip and down the side of his face into his dark hair. Le tightened the last bandage on Kouga's leg with a shaky hand. Inuyasha placed a hand on her shoulder and she looked up at him distressed. "We gotta get him outta here. Maybe back to Kiade's village."

Her face dropped and her voice was hushed with fear. "Will he make it that far Inuyasha?

Inuyasha swallowed the lump in his throat. "He might."

"Char-u's dead now so that means the seal of the well will be broken, right?"

The seal on the well was the last thing on the hanyou's mind right now. He hunkered and pulled Kouga to a sitting position so he could get an arm around him to pull him up. "I guess so." He hauled Kouga up, blood scent filling his nostrils.

She stood up beside him and helped to support Kouga's other side. She could smell the bleeding. Some of it she was sure she had stopped, but not all of it. "Good," bitter tears stood in her eyes. "I wanna go home."

The two began the laborious task of carrying Kouga back to Kiade's village.


End file.
